ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Flood disasters like Hurricane Harvey lead some people to move far from the places they had called home. But a new study finds that middle-class people who made long-term plans to stay in their neighborhoods before they flooded are less likely to relocate even if they suffered significant damage.

Children's heavy digital media use is associated with a risk of being overweight later in adolescence. Physical activity protects children from the adverse effects of digital media on their weight later in adolescence.

We all have an internal clock but what makes us tick? Scientists have developed new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to understand how gene expression regulates an organism's circadian clock.

By examining MRI data from a large Open Science repository, researchers reconstructed a brain connectivity pattern, and applied it to an artificial neural network (ANN). They trained the ANN to perform a cognitive memory task and observed how it worked to complete the assignment. These 'neuromorphic' neural networks were able to use the same underlying architecture to support a wide range of learning capacities across multiple contexts.

Research introduces a novel approach to reverse aspects of aging-related deterioration in the brain and cognitive function via the microbes in the gut.

Smartphones have made multi-tasking easier, more understandable, and at times compulsive. But in social settings, these devices can lead to a form of contemporary rudeness called phone snubbing, or phubbing, the act of ignoring one's companions to pay attention to a phone.

Researchers used to believe that individual neurons were precisely tuned to respond to distinct types of touch. By studying rat whiskers, a team now finds that nearly all primary touch-sensitive neurons respond to an extensive range of motions and combination of motions and forces.